A Proposed Faction Based Sandbox MMORPG

bhuma · 2008-06-13T15:23:14

I know for many the very word ‘faction’ makes one cringe, because it is typically associated with endless grinding for paltry favors. But hear me out. Prepare yourself, this is a long post—more of an essay really. Up to this point in time, there have largely been three ways to advance in MMOs: 1. level progression, 2. gear progression, 3. skill progression. Factions are typically thrown in as side features in an attempt to make the game more complex, perhaps more realistic, or to provide time-sinks. But what if all your advancement was tied to faction progression? Imagine the possibilities. Let me paint a picture. Consider a mature rated ptp (player to player) sandbox game with no levels, no starting faction, and no starting skills. Let the world be polarized by various NPC factions. Some of these could be priestly cults, devoted to various gods, others could be thief/assassin organizations, mage/sorcery organizations, warrior organizations, holy warrior (paladin) organizations, druid organizations, merchant organizations, trade-skill organizations, etc. Perhaps the closest model might be provided by Morrowind with its faction rich world. But it did not go far enough. Let some of these factions be strongly aligned, some be strongly opposed, and let others be largely neutral to one another. Let each faction have its own highly protected NPC stronghold, with various instructors, lore-keepers, and a supreme NPC leader. But outside the strongholds, let the factions be largely scattered throughout the land, with representatives in every major city and village, and where appropriate, outposts in the wilds. Let there also be an overriding threat to the world as a whole, such as a demonic horde from Hell, which seeks to destroy the world and everything in it. Now let everything you say or do in the game have an effect on your faction. I mean everything. For each action, let there be a corresponding faction gain and faction loss, depending upon the nature of the action. By acting, the player would then define his/her role, and would eventually become aligned with a certain faction and its allies. Let this have both benefits and costs. For example, it could affect the players stats—increasing faction in a given direction could increase certain stats, while simultaneously decreasing others. It could also open up certain skills and abilities, which are taught by members of the aligned faction and their allies, while blocking other skills and abilities, which are taught by members of the opposing faction and their allies. Quests could then be designed such that the player has a variety of meaningful choices regarding how to respond to the quest giver or how to complete the quest. I’m not talking about trivial fetch x, collect y quests, which have no connection to the story or lore. I’m talking about a mutli-branched, epic quest-line, where every quest is somehow tied into the overriding threat to the entire world. To meet this threat the most illustrious and elite members from all the factions are required. The goal is to become one of those elite members, so that one can participate in the ‘end-game’—which will involve attempting to overcome the demonic threat. This means one has to choose a particular faction or set of factions, and rise through the ranks to become an elite member of that faction. Whether or not one succeeds in accomplishing this goal, depends upon every action that one makes throughout the entire game. By virtue of some actions, one might rise in rank, and by virtue of other actions, one might fall in rank. Once you have achieved a certain rank, it is not locked in stone. If you perform actions that are opposed to your favored faction, you can fall in rank, with a corresponding reduction in your favored stats, skills, abilities, etc. One thus has to be careful as to what one does, if one wants to rise in the ranks and become a mighty hero, or elite member of the chosen faction. Those who succeed in achieving the highest rank in a given faction are granted extraordinary stats, along with extraordinary skills and abilities, which can then be employed in an attempt to overcome the world-wide threat. This would be a player organized effort, where the elite members of all the factions throughout the world elect a King or Queen, and a supreme council, whose purpose is to marshal all the factions toward a common goal—eradicating the world-wide threat. Ideally, this threat would be dynamic. It would involve world-events, periodically predicted by NPC sooth-sayers around the world, where a super powerful Demon and his minions incarnate to destroy organized society. This is where it really gets interesting. The idea is to have the Incarnated Demon and his minions be other players. The ordinary factions represent organized society, which has its own rules, designed to preserve some semblance of order. Over and above these ordinary factions, let there be a demonic faction—which is increased by performing mindless, evil, and despicable acts, designed to disrupt the activities of organized society. This would include ganking of low level players, spawn camping, general griefing, killing innocent NPCs, including quest-givers, burning down or destroying villages, etc. By doing these things, the player falls outside of organized society and will eventually come under the sway and tutelage of the rising demonic force. As a result, the physical form of the player gradually changes into that of a demon, who is kos by all members of organized society. Let this demonic faction have its own hidden stronghold, in the depths of Hell, which provides these players with a safe haven, from which they can wreak havok on the world. The highest ranking, elite members of this demonic faction can then periodically elect a player, who at pre-ordained and specified times can incarnate as a Great Demon from Hell, with vast raid-worthy powers. A world-event would then consist of the elite members of organized society, with their elected King or Queen, facing the elite members of the demonic faction, with their incarnated Demon. In this fight, there can be no resurrections that allow fallen warriors to fight again. Once you die, you are out of the battle for a specified period of time, and can merely witness the unfolding events as a ghost. In the event that the demonic hordes win, by killing the King or Queen, and defeating the champions of the world, then they can go on a rampage for a limited period of time, destroying villages, cities, guild houses, etc. at their whim—and killing all the lower ranked players that they can find. In the event that organized society wins, by killing the Demon, and his demonic horde, then they can enter the gates of Hell, destroy the demonic stronghold, and kill all the lower ranked demons that they can find. In both cases, the ‘banks’ of the losing side can be robbed—and their treasures stolen. Once the world-event is over, both sides will need time to recover, replenish their treasures and supplies, and prepare for the next world event. This, in my mind, would constitute a worthy end-game for an MMO, while allowing a rich sandbox environment for those who didn’t care to participate in the end-game. Of course, this is largely wishful thinking. Such a game would require highly talented writers, designers, and developers, and a boat-load of cash to develop. For technical reasons, the actual world-event fights would likely have to be instanced and limited to certain numbers of players—perhaps the highest ranking members of the represented factions. This would give the player base something to strive for, and would induce fierce competition within the factions. I put this out there, because it is my idea of a game I would like to see. I will probably never get to see such a game in reality. But you never know who is reading these forums. If the ideas presented here serve to spark an idea for a future game in the mind of an up and coming developer, then it will have served its purpose. Feel free to use these ideas, for whatever they are worth.